


Background Commentary

by Relh99



Series: While We Wait [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: One-Shot, Takes place during season one, cursing, no beta we die like men, rated T because of Remus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24300277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relh99/pseuds/Relh99
Summary: Just because they didn’t make a physical appearance doesn’t mean Janus and Remus didn’t have their own thoughts and opinions relating to the topics the others discussed with Thomas.Janus and Remus’ missing commentary that managed to sneak it’s way into episodes from a good chunk of season one.
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Series: While We Wait [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742587
Comments: 12
Kudos: 89





	Background Commentary

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t ask how many notes I took to write this. Just know that I spent more time reading the fandom wiki transcripts than I intended. 
> 
> Every “******” is an episode change. It’s all in order from season 1 of Sanders Sides, and the episodes referenced are all going to be listed at the end. 
> 
> Enjoy 💚

Thomas had decided to try a new format with his content, something Virgil hadn’t exactly been the most thrilled about. What if people didn’t like these longer videos? He was known best for his Vines. Plus, Teach, Dad, and Princey never made an appearance in a YouTube video. Virgil, Janus, and Remus hadn’t shown up in any of Thomas' content, which was fine. They weren’t exactly the type of traits people liked to talk about having. No one wants to talk to their audience how they can be deceitful, or bring up their forbidden thoughts, or mention the fact that they have anxiety. The three of them understood why they weren’t involved in making content.

Didn’t mean they couldn’t listen.

Virgil, Janus, and Remus were all in the den. Virgil normally didn’t try to tap into how Thomas was feeling unless he wanted to get the poor guy’s heart racing a little. The conversation Thomas was having with the others wasn’t too intriguing. Basic stuff lacking any details. Good. The less people could pin on Thomas, the better.

“You’re holding him back from going in depth with the topics, Verge,” Janus said.

“And?” Virgil asked. “What, you want me to back off? Let him spill his secrets? Let’s just tell the whole internet he’s gay! That won’t bring any hate his way!”

“Most people suspect that anyway,” Janus scoffed. “But I see your point. Keeping things vague are probably for the best while he’s still testing the waters.”

“ _Wouldn’t want to be our own villain would we?_ ”They all heard Roman say. It was really weird listening to the conversation from the mind palace. Everything had this strange, quiet echo. They had to all remain silent in order to hear what was happening. At the sound of his brother’s voice though, Remus’ head shot up.

“That bitch is talking about me!” Remus growled, standing up. “I’m gonna go kick his ass!”

“No you’re not,” Janus sighed, grabbing the Duke’s arm and pulling him back down. “Wait till he get back at least.”

“If you pop up, that’ll just scare Thomas, which will bring in me, and then Janus will have to play clean up,” Virgil explained.

“I will do no such thing, you two would be on your own,” Janus denied. 

“Sure,” Virgil smirked.

“Fine,” Remus pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “But the second Roman gets back down here, I’m putting his head through the nearest wall.”

“Try not to get stabbed this time,” Janus said, leaning back into the loveseat. “Now hush, I want to hear what else the three musketeers have to say.”

Logan asked Thomas what his biggest fears were and Virgil started counting on his fingers instantly.

“Spiders, rejection, what exactly is at the bottom of the ocean-“

“I feel like you jumped around a lot with those,” Janus said.

“Deep sea ocean spider,” Remus whispered, staring off into the distance. Virgil threw a pillow at him, not wanting that image in his head.

“I’m surrounded by children,” Janus sighed. They gave up trying to listen in after that. 

******

Patton had been the only one to pop up to lecture Thomas. They weren’t sure where Roman and Logan were, but Virgil, Janus, and Remus were in the back den like normal. Since none of them had officially shown themselves to Thomas yet, they wanted to listen in some more. The more information they had on how this direct line of communication with the big man himself worked, the better prepared they’d be for the future. 

Remus was laying on his back on the floor while Janus and Virgil were sitting on the loveseat and couch respectively. They were trying to listen in like last time with slightly better success. Without Roman there to bitch about, Remus was actually keeping mostly quiet.

Patton had been going on about the things Thomas was good at. “ _And when dealing with other people, you know when to stand up for what’s right and when to turn the other cheek._ ”

“Show them your butt!” Remus shouted, sitting up suddenly. Virgil jumped in his seat while Janus pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes in annoyance.

“Wrong cheeks, Remus,” Janus sighed.

“What’s with you and butts?” Virgil asked. 

Remus shrugged and laid back down. “They’re juicy.”

“Alright, remind me not to ask next time,” Virgil sighed.

******

Virgil had been showing up to more and more talks with Thomas in person, leaving Janus and Remus to listen in alone. Sure, they could hound the little ball of anxiety for the details afterwards, but he had been acting strange. It was probably nothing, but Janus didn’t want to risk missing details because Virgil suddenly had a change of heart or something sappy like that.

The topic of the discussion: Valentine’s Day. Not one of Janus’ personal favorite holidays, but whatever. For some reason they were all discussing how to woo a girl. Probably Virgil’s idea to use Valerie as the example. Not only did Janus approve of them lying, pretending to be straight to win the affections of some girl, but it was also hilarious watching them all fail horribly.

Roman suggested poetry, which wasn’t too bad. Remus clapped his hands together in excitement and beamed. “Ooo! Poetry! Do Shakespeare's sonnet 138!”

Now that confused the snake. Poetry, for the most part, had structure and form, something Remus’ ideas often lacked. “Didn’t peg you for a Shakespeare fan.”

Remus eyed Janus, making him instantly regret his choice of words. “You can peg me anyti-“

Remus was cut off suddenly, totally not because Janus threw a pillow at him. That would’ve been childish, no matter how much the Duke may or may not have deserved it.

“ _Gonna stop you right there_ ,” Logan’s voice suddenly chimed in. ” _That sonnet is about an older man and an unfaithful girl, lying to preserve their relationship._ ”

Janus hummed, the pieces fitting together a little better in his head now. “Now your fondness over that sonnet makes more sense.”

It was pretty entertaining hearing all the ways the three stooges suggested winning someone over. Remus wasn’t too happy over the fact that Roman killed the dragon witch, one of the Duke’s oldest creations. Janus could only explain so many times that Remus could technically just imagine that the dragon witch was still alive without wanting to rip his own hair out. He totally didn’t miss having Virgil around to help curb the Duke’s theatrics. 

Speaking of the devil, Janus tried to tune out Remus’ bitching when he heard Virgil speak up. “ _... weddings are nothing but outdated, expensive pageantry,_ ” the anxious side groaned. 

Janus snorted. “God, he’s so dramatic! I thought that was your brother’s job!”

“I can be way more dramatic than that royal pain,” Remus said, his eyes lighting up with inspiration. 

“No need to demonstrate.”

******

Remus was lying upside down on the couch, his arms dangling over his head while his legs hung over the back of the couch. Virgil sat on the opposite end, staring into a mirror he had set up on a TV tray, touching up his eyeshadow. Janus had been relaxing, working on a crossword puzzle, when the mood in the mind palace shifted. The three of them all looked up at each other. Someone had gone to talk to Thomas. Nothing was planned for today, so what was up? Janus tried to focus in to see who went up to bother the big man himself.

Logan’s voice echoed in his ears. “ _Preposterous! There’s an infinitesimal amount of things in this bizarre massive universe brimming with exciting mysteries and you don’t really know what to talk about?_ ”

Janus chuckled at the logical side’s misuse of the word. “I told Logan infinitesimal meant really big the other day.”

“Nice,” Remus smirked, not understanding the joke, but also not wanting to feel excluded.

“When did you start talking to Logan?” Virgil asked. He had been becoming more uncomfortable around Janus as of late, but the mention of talking to one of the others caused the anxious side to tense up into a more guarded position. 

“I’ve never spoken to a Logan in my life,” Janus lied, going back to his crossword puzzle. 

Suddenly, Virgil was gone. Remus and Janus stared at the spot he had been sitting at, confused as to what happened.

“Did necktie actually call him up for the lecture?” Janus asked.

“Me next!” Remus said, sitting up. “I volunteer as tribute! Whisk me away!”

“Stop, we’ve been over this,” Janus sighed. “Now hush, I want to see what this is all about.”

“They stole our All-American Reject for once,” Remus said. “Think he’ll give an honest run down today? I’m tired of just listening in.”

“I trust Virgil as much as the others trust me.”

“They don’t trust you.”

Janus nodded. “Thanks for clearing that up for me, I was a little confused on what exactly the others thought of me.”

They missed the conversation, which was fine, it’s not like Janus cared or anything. Logan was saying his farewells from what they could tell, sounding all too confident on whatever he had decided.

“ _Elementary, my dear_ -“

“Daddy!” Remus shouted, cracking himself up.

Janus just stared at the immature side with a blank expression. “And you wonder why Thomas doesn’t listen to you ever.”

******

So what if Virgil got invited to a Sanders Sides Q&A and Janus didn’t? He wasn’t jealous. Him listening in had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to be part of a video for once. It was purely for research on how these Thomas talks worked. The more information he had, the better Janus could plan for the day when he decided to show up. 

“Can’t believe people asked Virgil questions and not us,” Remus pouted.

“Yes, let’s have all of Thomas’ fans ask sides that Thomas himself doesn’t even know exist questions,” Janus nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Didn’t expect you to be so bitter about it,” Remus chuckled, pulling out his phone.

“I’m not bitter,” Janus said.

“Sure, Jan.”

The sudden echoey sound of an air horn ran in their ears. Janus stared at the Duke and frowned.

“ _Sorry, that was my phone,_ ” Roman apologized to the group up above.

“Did you just text your brother in the middle of them recording a video?” Janus asked.

Remus laughed. “Yeah, I sent him the poop emoji!”

“Classy,” Janus hummed.

The questions being asked weren’t anything too outlandish. One question though did catch Remus’ attention. Janus was half listening when he heard Thomas read off the next group question.

” _Ok! Uh... What was... my most embarrassing moment._ ”

Self-preservation kicked in and Janus began to mentally beg the others not to bring it up, not even caring at this point if they realized it was him tugging at the strings. Remus though latched onto the question with glee and grinned widely at the memory.

“HE PEED HIS DURING HIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHORUS CONCERT!” The intrusive thot shouted. 

Janus winced as he heard Patton repeat the statement to the camera. He glared at Remus and threw his hands up into the air in rage. 

“WHY WOULD YOU ADMIT THAT TO PEOPLE?”

“Come on, you know it’s funny!” Remus laughed. “Live a little! No need to be so ssserioussss all the time.”

“You’re hilarious,” Janus said dryly. Remus smiled innocently and went back to his phone. Janus bit his lips and pulled out his phone too, unfortunately getting an idea from the Duke.

The sound of another loud text tone echoed from Thomas’ living room. “ _I'm sorry, that is my text tone_ ,” Logan apologized. 

Janus glanced back up at Remus. “Did you just send the nerd the poop emoji?”

“Duh,” Remus giggled. 

Janus hit send on his own phone and waited for the text tone again.

“ _I am just gonna put this on silent,_ ” Logan said, sounding annoyed.

“Did you just send white and nerdy the poop emoji?” Remus asked.

Janus scoffed, looking somewhat offended. “Of course not, I’m not that immature! I sent him the middle finger.”

“Good choice,” Remus hummed in approval.

When the Disney movie question got asked, Janus stared at Remus heavily. He knew that the Duke was going to somehow find some way to influence the group’s answers to piss off his brother. 

“ _I can't choose amongst any of my darling babies!_ ” Roman explained, sounding somewhat panicked by the simple thought of having to pick just one Disney movie. “ _So, I’m just going to say that they're ALL my favorites and I am going to start singing the entire anthology starting with ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’._ ” Princey cleared his throat, which sounded odd with the weird echo, and started singing. “ _Some_ -“

“-BODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD WAS GONNA ROLL ME!” Remus shout-sang. The others up above were singing along and Janus just sighed.

“Remind me why I hang out with you again?”

******

“ _I ask you this Thomas, allow me the chance to really prove myself! Grant me full creative control!_ ”

They hadn’t even planned on listening in, but the mention of daydream mode caught both Janus and Remus’ attention from the mind palace. Remus jumped up immediately and Janus had to tackle him to keep the side from barging into Thomas’ living room and murdering his twin at the simple mention of daydream mode.

“He can’t silence me like this!” Remus screeched, trying to fight off the other side.

“Thomas hasn’t agreed to it yet!” Janus snapped. “What’s your plan? Run up there and knock Roman out and spend the next forty or so minutes terrorizing Thomas?”

“Maybe!”

“ _All right, let's do it,”_ they heard Thomas agree.

Suddenly, Remus was silent. He opened his mouth in an attempt to scream, but nothing came out. Janus let out a sigh of relief and got off of him, dusting himself off. He smiled at the newfound quiet while Remus shot him the most intense death glare. 

“Don’t know why you’re giving me that look, I’m not happy with this new turn of events at all,” he smirked. Janus didn’t even care what the rest of the conversation was about. He was going to savor this moment of peace for as long as it lasted.

******

Janus was in the kitchen making himself some lunch. With Logan and Virgil up discussing Thomas’ last audition with him and Patton off somewhere comforting Roman, Janus wanted to take advantage of the fact that he knew no one would be by for a while and take time to make something. 

Unfortunately, his peace was interrupted by Remus sliding in, a wild look in his eyes.

“Was that my cue?” He asked, sounding way too excited for Janus’ liking.

“Was what your cue?” Janus asked.

“Nerd glasses just told Thomas about bad imaginary!”

Janus sighed. He hadn’t been listening in to Virgil and Logan’s talk, so he wasn’t completely sure what the context was, but he knew Logan didn’t mean the Duke. Whatever they were talking about though managed to grab Remus’ attention.

“No, that’s not your cue. We’ve discussed this so many times- the longer we can work in the background, the easier it’ll be for us to get things done.”

Remus just blinked, not fully paying attention. “But I’m literally Thomas’ bad imaginary.”

“What in the hell are those two talking about anyway?” Janus sighed.

“They’re about to have a debate it sounds like.”

Now that sounded interesting. Logan made more sense in a debate environment, but how he planned to convince Virgil to participate...

This Janus had to see. Or hear, since he couldn’t actually go and watch unfortunately. 

He couldn’t tell where exactly they were in the debate process, but Thomas’ echoey, distressed shouting soon reached Janus’ ears just before Logan could cut him off and tell him to calm down.

“ _You're right I'm an adult,_ ” Thomas said.

“Me, me big boy,” Remus giggled.

Janus listened as Thomas groaned in regret while also staring down the Duke. “Remember a few weeks ago when you were silent? I miss that, can we go back to that?”

******

Hearing the other sides take on the form of Thomas’ friends definitely gave Janus some ideas for the future. He totally wasn’t listening in just to hear Virgil be miserable the whole time. Thankfully, Remus was staying quiet while Janus took notes. 

“ _This is incredibly amusing,”_ they heard Thomas admit. “ _But_...”

“ _But?_ ” Roman asked.

“ _Yes, but?_ ” Virgil pushed

Remus giggled to himself. “Hehe. Butts.”

Janus groaned and leaned back into the loveseat. “I feel like the vast majority of your comments are made purely to piss me off.”

“Why, is it working?” Remus asked, smiling at Janus’ annoyance.

“...no.”

******

Virgil ducking out was not... ideal. Janus kept pacing around the den, heavily debating showing up himself just to keep Thomas from doing something that could potentially harm himself. The regular three where up there already discussing the issue, although they hadn’t quite caught on yet. It was driving Janus crazy.

“ _Even still, I just don’t see why he’s necessary. If Anxiety is gone, what do we have to lose?_ ” Roman’s voices echoed from the living room.

“Thomas doesn’t fear death!” Janus hissed. Those idiots were going to get Thomas hurt or in trouble.

“Thomas doesn’t fear death, huh?” Remus asked. “So what I’m hearing is now is the perfect time to suggest jumping out of a moving car?”

“Yes, Remus, Thomas standing still in his living room is the ideal time to bring up jumping out of a moving vehicle,” Janus deadpanned. “Perfect timing.”

“ _Thomas, did you remember to lock your motor vehicle earlier today?_ ” They heard Logan ask.

“See, they’re talking about Thomas’ car anyway!” Remus said. 

“Shut up!” Janus snapped. This was much more stressful than he thought it’d be. He was starting to regret not pushing harder for Virgil to stay yesterday. 

Thomas and Patton said something about doubting someone would take anything from the car. “ _You just see the best in people_ ,” the father figure said cheerfully. 

“But he can’t always afford to!” Janus groaned.

“Almost sounds like you miss the emo nightmare,” Remus pointed out.

“I don’t miss him.”

“Hm, sure,” Remus chuckled.

“I miss him working to keep Thomas alive!” Janus clarified. “Those three knuckleheads are going to get Thomas killed without anyone there to reign them in! Self preservation gets significantly more difficult when the self I’m trying to preserve no longer fears anything!”

“ _Look, I am the dreamer, and the one BIG thing that gets in the way of pursuing any new adventure, is fear,_ ” Roman argued to the others in the living room.

“THOMAS, TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF!” Remus yelled.

“ _Took my pants off!_ ” They heard Thomas announce.

“WHY?” Janus shouted at the Duke. 

“Why not?” Remus giggled. “He’s open time suggestions right now. Figured I’d toss some out there while I can.”

“Forget the other three, YOU’RE going to get Thomas hurt before anything else!” Janus groaned. “No more input from you until we figure out what exactly Virgil ducking out means!”

“You’re really killing my mood here,” Remus frowned.

“Sorry for trying to keep you from really killing Thomas!” Janus snapped.

“Taking his pants off isn’t dangerous,” Remus scoffed. “If you want dangerous, I have plenty of suggestions-“

“Remus! If you get Thomas hurt or killed, he won’t be able to listen to any suggestions from you ever!” Janus quickly explained. “Wait until we figure this out! Then... I’ll let you in on the plan for us showing up!”

Remus smiled a bit too wide for Janus’ liking, but there was no going back now. “Deal.”

“ _We need to go to Anxiety’s room to check on Anxiety_ ,” Logan explained to the living room group.

Janus sighed in relief. If they had Thomas take them into Virgil’s room, Janus and Remus wouldn’t be able to listen in until they returned to the living room, but at least Janus could trust Virgil to keep Thomas from getting himself injured while they were in his room. Janus took a seat on the couch and rested his elbows on his legs, holding his face in his hands. Remus laid down on the floor, and the two of them waited to see how this would play out.

******

“ _That was a really risky thing you guys did_ ,” they eventually heard Virgil chide, his voice echoey, signifying that the group had returned to the living room, Thomas’ anxiety in tow.

Janus’ head shot up. “That wasn’t even a day.”

“You good, Janus?” Remus asked from the floor.

“He had me stressing out over how I was supposed to keep Thomas alive... and he wasn’t even gone for a full day,” Janus whispered, more to himself than the other side present.

“Yeah, that and he’s totally sitting at the losers table now,” Remus added. “You okay though?”

Janus stood up, done with the whole day. Thomas was safe, so he didn’t need to be on guard anymore, but that didn’t help calm his seething rage towards the traitor that put Thomas in danger in the first place.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Janus said, his voice surprisingly steady compared to how he actually felt. “What makes you think otherwise?”

**Author's Note:**

> Episodes referenced in order:
> 
> • My True Identity (Episode 1)  
> • Way Too Adult (Episode 2)  
> • Alone in Valentines Day (Episode 8)  
> • Losing My Motivation (Episode 9)  
> • Sanders Sides Q&A (Episode 10)  
> • Am I Original? (Episode 11)  
> • My Negative Thinking (Episode 12)  
> • Making Some Changes (Episode 14)  
> • Accepting Anxiety Part 1 (Episode 16)  
> • Accepting Anxiety Part 2 (Episode 17)
> 
> Thank you again for reading. If you’re new to this series I’ve been doing, these are just fics I write that I try to keep close to canon. If you have any prompt/ideas that’d you’d like to suggest, let me know!


End file.
